Sunday, July 31, 2011

The bad news: Arizona takes two of three from the Dodgers, beating Rubby De La Rosa (4.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 6 Ks, 2 HR) on a day where the Dodgers finally gave up and traded six-year Dodger shortstop Rafael Furcal to the Cardinals, conceding the season. In fact, coach Don Mattingly was so disappointed with the Dodgers' lackluster performance today (not sure where Mattingly has been the last 106 games, but okay, it's a start), he pledged to have individual, "personal conversations" with his players. I hope he has cleared off room on his therapist's-office couch.

The good news, however, is that the Snakes' two weekend wins, coupled with the weekend sweep of San Francisco by the Reds, puts Arizona only two back of the Giants with two months to play. Including today's 9-0 whupping by Cincy, SF's new acquisition Carlos Beltran is batting 2-for-17 (.118) with 6 Ks. That is good news, indeed.

LATE ADD: Good news: Andre Ethier went 4-for-5 with a run scored. Bad news: the four hits were all singles; and, with two on and two out in the bottom of the ninth, Ethier flies out to end the game.

I'm not really one to get all in a rage about traded prospects. Then I found out that what we got for Trayvon is what we would have gotten for Kuroda if he said yes to a Red Sox trade.

So, to recap: -The Red Sox tell Ned he can have a few modest pieces in return for two months of Kuroda. A decent value.-Kuroda says no.-Ned, so infatuated with getting said modest pieces, gives the Red Sox YEARS of Trayvon, which THEY DON'T EVEN WANT, and they flip him to Seattle.